ISRO spy case: HC quashes government order on police officers

The Kerala High Court Monday quashed the state government’s order to drop charges against three retired police officers, who had implicated and arrested scientist S. Nambi Narayanan in connection with the ISRO espionage case.

Acting on a petition by Narayanan, a former Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) scientist, a division bench of Justice A.V. Ramakrishna Pillai directed the state government to reconsider its decision and submit a report in three months time.

The division bench also criticised the Kerala government for not giving enough importance to the direction of the CBI, which recommended action against the three police officers.

It was in 2011 that the Oommen Chandy government decided not to take action against three police officers and it was against this that Narayanan approached the court.

The case surfaced in 1994 when Narayanan along with another top official of ISRO, two Maldivian women and a businessman was arrested on espionage charges.

The three police officials in question are then top police officer Siby Mathews, K.K. Joshua and S. Vijayan, who have all now retired. Mathews is currently the state chief information commissioner.

Reacting to the turn of events, Narayanan said he was happy with the development.

“I will fight till those who did this are proceeded against,” he said.